US stocks close down after escalating North Korea and US tensions

US indexes closed lower as investors continued to fret over
escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

President Donald Trump
on Thursday escalated his rhetoric on North Korea, saying his
"fire and fury" comment might not be "tough enough."

"Maybe that statement wasn't tough enough," Trump told
reporters as he prepared to meet with top national security
advisers. "If anything, that statement may not be tough enough."

His comments came after North Korea said it was completing plans to fire four
intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near the US Pacific island territory of Guam, in an unusually detailed
threat.

The Dow Jones Industrial
Average was down 0.9% at 21,844.01 and the S&P 500 was down 1.5% at 2,438.21. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.1% to 6,216.87.

Akzo Nobel wins again in court battle with hedge fund Elliott

Dulux-owner Akzo Nobel doesn't have to let shareholders vote on whether to dismiss its
chairman, a Dutch court has ruled.

It's another victory for the paint company against activist investor
Elliott Advisors, which is Akzo's largest shareholder.

The activist investor, which has a 9.5% stake, holds chairman Antony Burgmans responsible for Akzo's
rejection of a 26bn euro (£23.56bn) takeover proposal
from US rival PPG Industries earlier this year and
wants him dismissed.

FSA: 'People deserve food they can trust'

BBC Radio 5 live

Posted at17:3410 Aug

Getty Images

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), which is investigating the importation of around 700,000 eggs from potentially contaminated Dutch farms, has told 5 live why it decided to withdraw some products from supermarkets despite saying the risk to health was "very unlikely".

Steve Wearne, Director of Policy at the FSA, said: "We think people deserve food they can trust and part of that is not having to eat food that's got chemicals in it that aren’t authorised, and that's the case with this. It's not supposed to be in food."

Eleven products containing egg - including sandwiches and salads - have been withdrawn from supermarkets. Asda, Waitrose, Sainsburys and Morrisons are affected.

Mr Wearne added: "We've been working closely with UK industry to trace eggs up and down the food chain and that's helped us to come to this new figure: 700,000.

"It is a small proportion of the 10 billion eggs we eat in the UK each year."

No prizes for guessing why they weren't appetising: despite a rise in the number of active customers to 943,000, they are spending less on orders amid stiff competition from the likes of Hello Fresh and Amazon. Costs also soared and the company reported a net loss of $31.6m (£24.3m).

Blue Apron only listed in late June, but its shares have since fallen 45% to $5.42. Ouch.

North Korea tensions take Dow back down below 22,000 points

Posted at16:0710 Aug

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been above 22,000 points since the beginning of August - but today is back down below that.

Investors are concerned about escalating tensions between the US and North Korea, which has said it is finalising plans to
fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near the US territory of Guam.

Look for British Lion eggs, says industry body

Posted at14:3610 Aug

The British Egg Information
Service has this to say about the fipronil scare:

"British egg producers have
reiterated the need for consumers and food producers to look for British Lion
eggs and egg products, following the Food Standards Agency (FSA) announcement
that some processed foods are being withdrawn from sale as they may have been
made with non-UK eggs contaminated with fipronil...

"Shell eggs on sale to consumers
are not affected and the Food Standards Agency says that there is no need for
people to change the way they consume or cook eggs.

"All major UK retailers stock
British Lion shell eggs and tests have shown that there is no risk from British
eggs...

"Food manufacturers, retailers and caterers using processed egg should
look for egg products produced within the British Lion Egg Products
scheme."

How many Dutch eggs affected by food scare?

Posted at14:2310 Aug

AFP

The Food Standards Agency said the number of eggs that came to the UK that may have been exposed to fipronil insecticide is "closer to 700,000 than the 21,000 we previously believed had been imported."

"However, as this represents 0.007% of the eggs we consume in the UK every year, it remains the case that it is very unlikely that there is any risk to public health from consuming these foods," it said.

Egg products off the shelves after contamination scare

The Food Standards Agency has said a number of products have been withdrawn from supermarket shelves after a Dutch egg contamination scare.

Some eggs may have been exposed to an insecticide called fipronil, which can potentially harm people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.

The eggs then may have got into the UK food chain.

The agency said: "It is
very unlikely that these eggs pose a risk to public health, but as fipronil is
unauthorised for use in food-producing animals we have acted with urgency to
ensure that consumers are protected."

The list of products is:

Asda Baby potato and free range egg
salad

Asda Spinach and free range egg snack
pot

Asda FTG Ham and Cheddar
ploughman’s salad bowl

Morrison’s Potato and Egg Salad

Morrisons Egg and Cress Sandwich

Morrisons Cafe Sandwich Selection

Sainsbury’s Ham and Egg Salad

Sainsbury’s Potato and Egg Salad

Waitrose Free Range Egg Mayonnaise

Waitrose Free Range Reduced Fat Egg
Mayonnaise

Waitrose Free Range Egg and Bacon

The latest use by date on these potentially affected products is 16 August.

Economic growth softens

British economic growth has
softened again following a modest improvement in the second
quarter, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

"The service sector, which was the main driver for economic
growth in the second quarter, appears to have slowed," said Amit
Kara, head of UK macroeconomic forecasting at NIESR.

"We see a modest recovery in the second half of this year in
response to strengthening global growth and a weaker currency,
but on the flip side, consumer spending is likely to be weighed
down by weak wage growth and investment spending held back by
Brexit-related uncertainty."

Earlier today, official data from ONS showed that UK industrial production shrank in the second quarter of the year.

Cineworld to make a splash with 4DX technology

Cineworld is upgrading its flagship cinemas at London's 02 and the Empire at Leicester Square to introduce 4DX technology.

It will give film fans rocking seats and see them sprayed with water from their chairs.

It has also revealed plans to open 11 more sites in the UK, including its first cinema in Leeds.

Its pre-tax profit for the last six months climbed 57.5% to £48.2million. The chain is expecting a bumper second half too on the back of upcoming films such as Paddington 2 and Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

FTSE slide continues

The FTSE 100 has continued to slide today. It's down 92.87 points, 1.24%, which points to more than the drag of some key company shares going ex-dividend.

Saying that four out of the five biggest losers are ex-dividend, the exception being InterContinental Hotels, which has slipped 2.64%.

Across the winder indices, the biggest loser is Leicestershire brick-maker Ibstock, down 5.24% to 234.90p. This morning it revealed that pre-tax profits for the last six months climbed almost 3% to nearly £39million.

Is the Pru planning to sell-off its UK business?

Posted at11:5910 Aug

Analysts think that today's merger of fund manager M&G with the Prudential's insurance division could be the first step to a sale...

"The combined business would bear a remarkable resemblance to several other UK life businesses, and the success of the DC pension scheme focused PruFund would seem to provide a model for a viable standalone future. There’s no need to get rid of the UK business, but today’s move would make it a lot simpler."

Nicholas HyettEquity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown

"Selling the UK business is something the company has been mulling over in private, and cutting loose the underperforming domestic operations, where Pru no longer writes new annuity business, could stick a rocket under the share price. News that the M&G asset management business will merge with its Prudential UK & Europe life insurance operation adds fuel to the fire that this is preparation for an eventual sale."

Live and loud

Despite the rise of streaming, most music acts now rely on performing live to make money - which is also helping companies such as Live Nation.

The world's biggest concert promoter sold 68 million tickets in the six months to July - 22% higher than the same period last year. That produced a 28% rise in revenue for the concerts division to $3.1bn.

Chief executive Michael Rapino said 2017 is "on track to be another year of growth and record results" for Live Nation, which also owns Ticketmaster.

Its new Verified Fan product, launched earlier this year, had sold more than 1 million tickets for 50 artists in
the US and Europe to "true fans, with a dramatic reduction in these
tickets then being sold on secondary sites", he added.

Investors liked the numbers, sending Live Nation shares up 7% to $40.25 in after-hours trading in New York. The stock has risen more than 40% this year.

Overseas boost for Savills

Estate agency group Savills pushed up pre-tax profit by 27% to £32.4m in the first half of the year despite a slowdown in the UK.

In fact the boost came from Asia and its real estate management arm: Savills gets nearly two-thirds of its revenue outside the UK.

Fee income from UK residential sales fell by 4%, with the number of transactions lower than a year earlier when trading had been lifted ahead of changes to stamp duty in April 2016.

For the UK, it said: "Increased levels of political and economic uncertainty created by the general election and the ongoing negotiations to leave the EU make it difficult to predict market volumes for the rest of the year."

Lack of housing supply dragging down property market

"The long-running issue of housing supply remains, and it’s vital that the Government continues to find and act on ways to address our limited housing stock to boost housing supply and give more younger buyers a better chance at homeownership.”

Jeremy DuncombeDirector, Legal & General Mortgage Club

"The fundamental issue which remains and prevents a significant advancement in our housing market is a chronic lack of supply. The Government must begin to put words into action and address this problem, sooner rather than later, to enable more first-time buyers to step onto the property ladder and increase market fluidity.”